Olympic women's boxing eligibility controversy is a reminder of the harm in trusting bad faith actors

First, let's keep the focus on the actual protagonist.

Imane Khelif, a 25-year-old welterweight from Algeria, qualified for the quarterfinals of the Olympic women's boxing tournament by dismantling Italy's Angela Carini in the round of 16. Their bout lasted 46 seconds, several of which included Carini waving her hand at the referee as if she had an imaginary white flag jammed into her glove. Moments earlier, Khelif had smashed her with a textbook straight right hand to the face, landing with enough force to make Carini abandon her Olympic dream.

That right hand, we know now, also ignited a culture war.

Within minutes, allegations of cheating rippled through the internet. Bestselling author J.K. Rowling weighed in and piled on, as did Jake and Logan Paul, Hall of Fame boxer Oscar De La Hoya, and retired football star Dez Bryant. They all accuse Khelif, who was born, raised, and has only ever lived as a woman, of some form of gender chicanery.

Was she intersex? Transgender? A straight-up man masquerading as a woman? None of the people trolling Khelif really knew, but they all seemed so sure. Mainstream news organizations added their own stories questioning Khelif's gender credentials, relying on evidence that looks credible but falls short in ways we'll explore later. Respectable outlets didn't call Khelif a gender doper, but didn't make clear that she wasn't one.

All because Khelif, a quarterfinalist in Tokyo three years ago, mollywhopped Carini, who wept about it afterward, and refused to shake the victor's hand post fight.

WATCH | Algeria's Khelif cruises past Italy's Carini in Olympic women's boxing round of 16:

After one day and countless inflammatory, defamatory, offensive social media posts from misogynists